This invention relates to apparatus for processing film.
Small film pieces or chips of the type used in dental X-rays can be developed in a machine which employs edge guides to guide the film through each of a group of tanks, and which also has a belt-driven finger which pushes against the rear edge of the film. Such a machine is described in my U.S. Pat. No. 3,712,206 entitled "Chip Film Processor." A similar but larger machine would be very useful in processing larger films, which may be referred to as film sheets, such as the 105 millimeter (4 inch) wide sheets commonly used in hospitals to make multiple exposures during a medical procedure. However, the film sheets are typically not as stiff as the smaller chips, so they tend to fall out of the guiding grooves at loops in the film path and they also tend to deflect around a finger which is pushing the sheet along the film path. A processing machine which could move a highly flexible film sheet through tanks of processing chemicals in an accurately controlled manner, and which minimized damage to the film emulsion, would facilitate the developing of film sheets.